Breathing Exercises

Each of these exercises offered here is to help you relax. You may very well feel more comfortable physically as anxiety and tension decrease. (The guided imagery exercises presented in another section may also increase your comfort directly through suggestions.) Practice brings the best results!

There are several ways to use these exercises:

read through the exercise and then do it from memory – it doesn’t have to be done exactly as I’ve written here

record the exercise and play it back for yourself to do (you can even do this on your cellphone)

have someone read the exercise to you

If you record the exercise or have someone read it to you, also try to eventually be able to do it on your own. This lets you do it anytime and anywhere – a great skill to have in your back pocket!